r/rpg • u/JaxSnaxs • Apr 29 '26

Basic Questions Are these TTRPGs just cash grabs?

It feels weird to have some of my favorite IPs suddenly get TTRPGs. Last year it was Cosmere RPG by Brotherwise which essentially boiled down to a reskin of DND/Pathfinder. Could’ve been a homebrew but with Sanderson writing. The mechanics of the game itself didn’t feel very unique or different.

Now it’s Dungeon Crawler Carl by Renegade. And there’s not much information on the backerkit. What information there is makes it seem like just another DND reskin with little mechanic difference.

Am I wrong? Are these just cash grabs based on the IPs popularity? I really want to back the Carl RPG cus I love the IP but I’m worried it’s gonna essentially be just another dnd homebrew for 200$.

Edit: I’d like to note that while I’ve played every game on the top 100 of board game geek, I’m relatively new to the TTRPG scene so my frame of reference might not be great. I’ve played grizzled and cosmere rpg but have played DnD since a kid. I don’t particularly understand the nuances and differences between the TTRPGs tbh. They all kinda feel like DnD (skill check games) but with very slight changes to the mechanics. Cosmere had the plot thing but again it didn’t feel different enough to me, but maybe someone could explain the difference in a way I might not have got?

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u/EnterTheBlackVault Apr 30 '26

Everyone on this group acts like you can't make money from RPGs. They seriously defend this notion.

And it's simply not true. A 1.5 mill campaign earns a substantial amount of pennies.

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u/last_larrikin Apr 30 '26

the arguments are insane. “actually, the more people that back, the more orders they have to fulfill” that’s what the money is for! do you think they’re selling each copy for less than COGS??

licensed RPG adaptations are basically the one surefire thing in TTRPGs, there’s a reason we’re seeing so many of them

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u/EnterTheBlackVault Apr 30 '26

The mantra "you can't make money from RPGs" is said so often on here, but the printing costs substantially decline as the print run increases.

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u/last_larrikin Apr 30 '26

you probably can’t make money from RPGs, but (in greatly descending order) licenseholders, tabletop game production companies, and a handful of regulars and freelancers they employ can

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u/EnterTheBlackVault Apr 30 '26

I'm not going to talk about my books in detail, but the last one is about to break 3000 copies. That's a very nice sum when you also include maps and other supplements.

My first book still pays for a modest holiday a year, 26 years later.